Dana Corporation

Torque-traction Technologies, Inc.

Spicer Technology Inc.

Gregory Allen Fett

James A Duggan

James A Krisher

Mark M Shuster

Michael L Dougherty

Timothy William Runstadler

Oscar Mnushkin

David Allen Krueger

Jeffrey L Colbert

A fluid coupling employing a viscous fluid to produce a limited slip differential assembly. The fluid coupling is disposed within a differential casing along with a pair of side gears. The fluid coupling includes a first impeller provided with a first set of vanes and drivingly coupled to one of the side gears, a second impeller provided with a second set of vanes and drivingly coupled to the differential casing so that the first set of vanes is facing the second set of vanes, and a viscous fluid disposed between the first and second sets of vanes.

Limited slip differential using fluid coupling

An apparatus to regulate and control the temperature of an axle assembly for a vehicle. A heat pipe is inserted though the axle housing cover, the heat pipe travels the length of the cover. Near the lower region of the carrier and beneath the lubricating fluid level, the heat pipe bends to continue in the horizontal direction. Disposed about the terminal end of the heat pipe below the lubricating fluid line are a series of cooling fins. Heat generated within the lubricating fluid that is heated during operation conduit is dissipated via the cooling fins.

Heat pipe for differential assembly

An ultra narrow adjustable differential assembly includes a ring gear rotatably supported within a differential housing about a central axis, a set of differential pinion mate gears rotatably mounted to the ring gear, a pair of opposite side gears drivingly engaging the differential pinion mate gears for establishing driving connection between the ring gear and the side gears and allowing differential rotation between the side gears, and an adjustment device for selectively adjusting position of the ring gear relative to the differential housing and proper bearing preload.

Ultra narrow adjustable differential assembly

A compact differential assembly includes a differential case defining a cavity, a set of pinion mate gears rotatably mounted within the cavity in a free-floating manner, and a pair of opposite side gears drivingly engaging the differential pinion mate gears for allowing differential rotation between the side gears. Each of the side gears is integrally formed at an inward end of a corresponding axle shaft within an outside diameter thereof as a unitary single-piece part.

Compact differential assembly

A differential mechanism includes a clutch pack disposed outside said differential case and has a first set of clutch plates splined onto one of said axle shafts and a second set of clutch plates splined onto a housing sleeve, wherein the housing sleeve circumscribes said axle shaft. A control mechanism comprising an actuator actuates the clutch pack. The housing sleeve is splined to a trunnion portion of the differential case. This device simplifies and reduces the cost of the original assembly and/or the optional mounting of a controlling or limiting device associated with a differential mechanism whose output elements are connected to coaxial wheel shafts.

Differential transmission device in particular for a motor vehicle

An assembly by which to effect incremental adjustments to the end play, or preloading, to a bearing set. Relatively rotatable first and second thrust rings have contiguously juxtaposed and interacting ramp surfaces. Interposed between the first and second thrust rings is an indexing spring that provides incremental adjustment of the first thrust ring with respect to the second thrust ring. A plurality of indexing pawls formed on the indexing spring interacts with a plurality of indexing teeth formed on one of the thrust rings. The second thrust ring is selectively rotatable with respect to the first thrust ring to effect axial translation of the first thrust ring by virtue of the interaction between said opposed, contiguously juxtaposed ramp surfaces. The indexing pawls preclude reverse relative rotation of the thrust plates.

Adjustable preload shim for tapered bearings

A method for joining ductile iron with steel includes the steps of depositing a metallic material between a first ductile iron component, and a second steel component. The joint formed by the method has an interface disposed between the two components and the first and second components are welded thereto. The interface includes the metallic material. The metallic material preferably includes nickel sprayed to the joint area. The resulting interface material is a weld bead zone that preferably includes nickel at a concentration ranging from about twenty-two percent to about thirty-two percent, most preferably between about thirty percent and about thirty-two percent. The welding step of the present invention preferably includes the use of laser energy to localize fusion of the components and the metallic material.

Method for joining ductile iron and steel

Limited slip motor vehicle differential assemblies having a suitable high-shear strength, non-hardening, material which selectively resists slip or differentiation between the axle shafts and the differential housing, between the differential side gears and the differential housing, and/or between the differential side gears and the differential pinion gears when slip or differentiation occurs between two motor vehicle wheels mounted on the same axle. Such an arrangement provides some level of torque to each motor vehicle wheel at all times. The amount of resistance to slip or differentiation between the two motor vehicle wheels can be adjusted as desired by selecting an appropriate high-shear strength, non-hardening, material to provide the desired level of resistance to slip or differentiation between the two motor vehicle wheels in the motor vehicle differential assembly.

Limited slip motor vehicle differential assembly

Interconnected vents for a motor vehicle axle assembly, transmission or transfer case which interconnects multiple vents at different locations together with another vent positioned at the highest point the lubricant travels. This allows the lubricant to flow out of one vent and return to the other vent without leaking onto the ground. Such an interconnected vent arrangement will minimize the extent of external lubricant leakage due to such factors as foaming of the lubricant, air entrapment in the lubricant, volumetric expansion of the lubricant due to elevated operating temperatures, pumping or splashing of the lubricant by internal rotating or moving parts, flow of the lubricant due to tilting of the motor vehicle, and thus the motor vehicle axle assembly, transmission and transfer case, and/or acceleration or deceleration of the motor vehicle.

Interconnected vents for motor vehicle axle assembly

Two-piece friction welded motor vehicle axle shaft which includes an axle portion which is frictionally welded to a flange portion. The flange portion is preferably fabricated from a relatively high carbon steel material, such as SAE 1050 Mod (Mn 0.80-1.10%), to satisfy the hardness requirement for the bearing race and the axle portion is preferably fabricated from a steel barstock material, such as SAE 1038, SAE 1040 or SAE 8630, having a somewhat lower carbon content to maximize its strength and ductility. The friction weld is preferably positioned inboard of the bearing race and, once welded, the two-piece motor vehicle axle shaft is machined to part profile, heat treated and then machined to final print dimensions.

Two-piece friction welded motor vehicle axle shaft

A ring gear (50) is provided between a pair of differential case halves (18, 18') integrally formed with teeth defining a pair of side gears (19, 19') that engage differential pinion gears (12, 12') mounted on a pinion shaft (17) to provide a motor vehicle differential gear assembly (100) having reduced components while enabling a limited slip capability controlled by regulating frictional resistance at a thrust surface interface.

Short span differential gear assembly

A limited slip planet gear for a motor vehicle differential assembly which uses a segmented planet gear having a plurality of fixed plates positioned between a corresponding plurality of planet gear segments. The plurality of fixed plates are preferably keyed to a planet gear pin and the plurality of fixed plates and the corresponding plurality of planet gear segments are compressed using a resilient compression member, for example, one or more belleville type springs or one or more leaf springs to provide limited slip capability to the motor vehicle differential assembly.

Limited slip planet gear for a motor vehicle differential assembly

A locking washer arrangement which includes two (2) washer members fabricated from a hardened steel material, a thicker one on the bottom and a thinner one on the top. The top surface of the top washer member and the bottom surface of the bottom washer member preferably have a relatively high coefficient of friction and may be grooved, embossed or otherwise roughened so they will grip the surfaces they come into contact with while the bottom surface of the top washer member and the top surface of the bottom washer member have a relatively low coefficient of friction to facilitate relative movement therebetween. Relatively long flexible tabs project radially outward from the periphery of the top washer member and distal ends are bent downwardly to engage and interlock between corresponding relatively short stiff tabs projecting radially outward from the periphery of the bottom washer member. A special magnetized socket is used to assemble the locking washer arrangement by temporarily attracting and holding the relatively long flexible tabs in the top washer member upward to permit the top washer member to rotate relative to the bottom washer member. When the special magnetized socket is removed, the relatively long flexible tabs in the top washer member engage and interlock between the relatively short stiff tabs in the bottom washer member to preclude further rotation between the top washer member and the bottom washer member.

Locking washer arrangement

A drive axle shaft for use in a full floating axle assembly includes a spline formed at an inner end thereof and a flange formed at an outer end thereof. A majority of the shaft body between the spline and the flange is of an increased diameter which is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of a reduced inner diameter portion of an axle housing through which the drive axle shaft extends. A pair of tapered portions form the transition between the increased diameter portion and the shaft ends to provide an axle shaft of increased torsional yield strength and torsional fatigue life.

High torque capacity axle shaft

Initially, an uncut gear blank is softened by a heat treatment process to provide a relatively soft level of hardness throughout. Then, the softened gear blank is machined so as to form a plurality of teeth about the circumference thereof. The relatively soft machined gear is next subjected to a prehardening process, wherein the surfaces of the teeth and the outer region of the core are hardened to a predetermined intermediate level of hardness. Finally, the prehardened gear is subjected to a contour hardening process such that the surfaces of the gear teeth are further significantly hardened. The outer region of the core of the gear remains at the intermediate hardness level, while the inner region of the core remains at the relatively soft level.

Growing community of inventors

Fort Wayne, IN, United States of America

Gregory Allen Fett